In vehicles used for the commercial transport of passengers, where the cabin outfit is to be considered a strong competitive characteristic, it is absolutely essential to detect defective components in the passenger cabin and to precisely collect defect data in a central location in order to make it possible to affect repair as soon as possible to rectify the defect. The classical method of collecting such defect data in passenger cabins involves carrying a paper-based logbook into which the persons accompanying the vehicle enter defect data which they either have noticed themselves or which was communicated to them by individual passengers. This approach can be associated with problems in that between learning of a defect of a component and the final entry in the logbook some time might pass, for example if the particular person accompanying the vehicle is engaged in serving passengers or is collecting empty food containers and waste, and during these activities is informed about a defect. Having received such a defect message the person accompanying the vehicle cannot immediately interrupt their work in order to make an entry in the logbook, but instead will first complete their activity and then log the defect. In the meantime it can happen that the person accompanying the vehicle forgets to make an entry, or that their recollection of the defect is only vague so that the corresponding logbook entry is not entirely correct.
EP 1 280 316 A2 shows an electronic variant of a logbook in which various users with different security levels can make dialog-guided entries of defect data by means of a mobile data collection device, in which affected components and their malfunctions can be selected. In this process at the same time the authorization of the respective user is verified. Furthermore, maintenance data generated from this is transmitted to mobile electronics devices for use during a maintenance procedure.
Collecting defect data of components in a passenger cabin of a vehicle, be it in a manual or electronic manner, while providing the possibility of collecting defect data at a central location and of conveying said data at a later stage to a maintenance system, nevertheless is associated with a degree of uncertainty relating to the precision of the acquired defect data.
It is at least one object to propose a system for collecting defect data of components in a passenger cabin of a vehicle, in which system the highest possible precision is achieved with regard to the defective component, the location of the defective component and the fault of the defective component. It is at least a further object to propose such a system which involves the smallest possible manual effort by a person accompanying the vehicle or by a passenger. In addition, other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.